The anti-Trump Lincoln Project has gone up in flames, between a sexual harassment scandal, a damaging cover-up and questions about its fundraising.
The group lost its fundraising page this weekend as it continued to implode, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported.
Group imploding
The Lincoln Project, whose current and former members include Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt and George Conway, was founded as a “principled” alternative to Trumpism and was known for its vicious, anti-Trump campaign ads.
Critics have long described the group as a grift to enrich its founders, and mounting scandals have certainly called its moralizing public posture into question.
The Lincoln Project feigned shock in the aftermath of reports that co-founder John Weaver sexually harassed young men online. The scandal was initially reported in January by Ryan James Girdusky at the American Conservative, before getting picked up by the Associated Press and The New York Times.
Problems multiplied for the group’s members with a damning AP report Thursday that revealed they knew about Weaver’s behavior as early as June. Weaver has been accused of harassing at least two minors, and some of his alleged victims were Lincoln Project employees.
The group’s fundraising page was no longer active Saturday amid the ongoing public relations nightmare, a day after Schmidt resigned from the board.
Anti-Trump group up in flames
There are also questions about where the money is going.
The AP seemed to confirm the suspicions of critics when it reported that the majority of the $90 million the group raised vanished in overhead costs and exorbitant consulting fees, with just a third going to the group’s ads.
The spectacular unraveling came to a head Thursday night, as the Lincoln Project shared private DMs between journalist Amanda Becker and former member Jennifer Horn on Twitter, leaving some to question if cyber laws had been broken.
Becker reported Monday that the Lincoln Project knew of Weaver’s behavior as early as March, even as the beleaguered group continued racing to put out a rapidly developing dumpster fire that has left former members ducking for cover.
The Lincoln Project may have been a windfall for its members, some of whom are reported to have been in financial straits — but the gravy train is coming to a violent rest, with their fundraising page down, the Senate Majority PAC cutting ties and wealthy donors threatening to do the same.
The post Anti-Trump Lincoln Project falls apart, fundraising page shut down first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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